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In-depth look at Mal Moore's 38-day recruitment of Nick Saban
Posted on 5/5/17 at 4:24 pm
Posted on 5/5/17 at 4:24 pm
I found this to be a pretty interesting look into the recruitment process that transpired after Shula was fired. As much a Mal Moore story as a Saban story.
Story
Story
This post was edited on 5/5/17 at 4:25 pm
2
Posted on 5/5/17 at 7:19 pm to MrTide33
I never get tired of reading it.
Awesome
Awesome
Posted on 5/8/17 at 6:20 am to MrTide33
Its amazing how butt hurt the media was over Saban leaving the Dolphins. I'll never understand that.
Posted on 5/9/17 at 8:12 pm to stomp
The SDS story most closely resembles the story as I heard it straight from the horses mouth. The one thing that was sort of implied but not stated is that Rich Rod or someone in his inner circle deliberately sabotaged the deal he had struck with Mal.
Coach Moore went to his grave believing that he had reluctantly made a deal with Rodriguez and when RR got cold feet (Rita maybe?) he leaked the agreement which MM had expressly and strictly forbidden. MM had warned him before he left Tuscaloosa that if word got out before the official announcement, the deal was off. I don't know why, I don't think there WAS a good reason why. I think it was a trap set by CMM. Sure enough, when he arrived back in Morgantown, the deal was leaked.
In many ways, I think Mal had set him up, banking on RR or someone close to him leaking it so he didn't have to go through with the hire. Mal liked RR ok, but he was not his top candidate (obviously). But Coach Moore was being pressured greatly to land a coach. People in high places were getting nervous and feeling embarrassed because the scuttlebutt was Alabama couldn't find anyone that wanted the job. That certainly wasn't the case, but Mal knew he had to get this one right. Another mediocre coach producing less than stellar results would have resulted in possible damage to the program's reputation. Alabama: the latest version of Ole Miss or Nebraska; a program who's day in the sun was over. That type of thing is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
So after the shite hit the fan with the RR hire (who was favored by a clique of power brokers who had pushed and helped arrange the meeting), it allowed MM to recoup some leverage and he used it to tell the higher ups "let me do my job and get MY guy." You know the rest. That SDS story is a good read and very accurate to the version I was told. Thanks.
Coach Moore went to his grave believing that he had reluctantly made a deal with Rodriguez and when RR got cold feet (Rita maybe?) he leaked the agreement which MM had expressly and strictly forbidden. MM had warned him before he left Tuscaloosa that if word got out before the official announcement, the deal was off. I don't know why, I don't think there WAS a good reason why. I think it was a trap set by CMM. Sure enough, when he arrived back in Morgantown, the deal was leaked.
In many ways, I think Mal had set him up, banking on RR or someone close to him leaking it so he didn't have to go through with the hire. Mal liked RR ok, but he was not his top candidate (obviously). But Coach Moore was being pressured greatly to land a coach. People in high places were getting nervous and feeling embarrassed because the scuttlebutt was Alabama couldn't find anyone that wanted the job. That certainly wasn't the case, but Mal knew he had to get this one right. Another mediocre coach producing less than stellar results would have resulted in possible damage to the program's reputation. Alabama: the latest version of Ole Miss or Nebraska; a program who's day in the sun was over. That type of thing is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
So after the shite hit the fan with the RR hire (who was favored by a clique of power brokers who had pushed and helped arrange the meeting), it allowed MM to recoup some leverage and he used it to tell the higher ups "let me do my job and get MY guy." You know the rest. That SDS story is a good read and very accurate to the version I was told. Thanks.
This post was edited on 5/9/17 at 8:13 pm
Posted on 5/10/17 at 9:08 am to phil4bama
quote:
The SDS story most closely resembles the story as I heard it straight from the horses mouth. The one thing that was sort of implied but not stated is that Rich Rod or someone in his inner circle deliberately sabotaged the deal he had struck with Mal.
Coach Moore went to his grave believing that he had reluctantly made a deal with Rodriguez and when RR got cold feet (Rita maybe?) he leaked the agreement which MM had expressly and strictly forbidden. MM had warned him before he left Tuscaloosa that if word got out before the official announcement, the deal was off. I don't know why, I don't think there WAS a good reason why. I think it was a trap set by CMM. Sure enough, when he arrived back in Morgantown, the deal was leaked.
In many ways, I think Mal had set him up, banking on RR or someone close to him leaking it so he didn't have to go through with the hire. Mal liked RR ok, but he was not his top candidate (obviously). But Coach Moore was being pressured greatly to land a coach. People in high places were getting nervous and feeling embarrassed because the scuttlebutt was Alabama couldn't find anyone that wanted the job. That certainly wasn't the case, but Mal knew he had to get this one right. Another mediocre coach producing less than stellar results would have resulted in possible damage to the program's reputation. Alabama: the latest version of Ole Miss or Nebraska; a program who's day in the sun was over. That type of thing is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
So after the shite hit the fan with the RR hire (who was favored by a clique of power brokers who had pushed and helped arrange the meeting), it allowed MM to recoup some leverage and he used it to tell the higher ups "let me do my job and get MY guy." You know the rest. That SDS story is a good read and very accurate to the version I was told. Thanks.
What I've heard from someone who is an agent who represents coaches (mainly assistants):
It was RR who asked that nothing leak b/c he wanted people at WVU to hear it directly from him. MM agreed. Then as word was making it through coaching circles (and their agents), MM got a call from Sexton asking what the hell we were doing. MM told him that many on the board were concerned that if we didn't hire someone soon we'd lose an entire recruiting class. Sexton told him (paraphrasing) if you wait until the NFL season is over you'll never have to worry about recruiting again. MM told Sexton they'd already agreed in principle and the only way out of it was if RR backed out due to it leaking, thus giving Sexton the info he needed to leak it.
Story leaked, RR walked, and MM was perfectly content with waiting until end of NFL season to see if Sexton was shooting him straight about Saban's interest.
Posted on 5/10/17 at 9:26 am to bamasgot13
You might need to throw Finebaum's name into the arena of people we should thank for the Rodriguez deal falling through. For the day and a half it looked like we were going to get him, Finebaum roasted the appearance of Rodriguez's wife and even posted her photo on the front page of his website.
Posted on 5/10/17 at 10:22 am to bamasgot13
quote:
Story leaked, RR walked, and MM was perfectly content with waiting until end of NFL season to see if Sexton was shooting him straight about Saban's interest.
That was a hell of a gamble and a ballsy move by Moore. RR would have been a safe pick. It looked really bad those couple of weeks when RR walked and it appeared we had no one. I know my arsehole was severely puckered.
Posted on 5/10/17 at 11:05 am to 14&Counting
quote:
It looked really bad those couple of weeks when RR walked and it appeared we had no one. I know my arsehole was severely puckered.
I was driving back home from a meeting and had about 2 hours of windshield time. I was listening to the Dan Patrick Show on or around 12/20 and he interviewed Chris Mortensen. During that interview Mort said if the Bama job wasn't filled by the time the NFL season ended that he expected Saban to take it, to which Patrick acted like that was crazy talk, but I felt pretty confident from that point on.
Posted on 5/10/17 at 2:16 pm to bamasgot13
Makes sense to me. They both agreed to keep it quiet, neither side wants to take the blame for the leak. Both sides point at the other while the whole time it was Sexton looking out for his client. Thanks, Jimmy!!
Posted on 5/11/17 at 3:04 am to RollTide1987
quote:
You might need to throw Finebaum's name into the arena of people we should thank for the Rodriguez deal falling through. For the day and a half it looked like we were going to get him, Finebaum roasted the appearance of Rodriguez's wife and even posted her photo on the front page of his website.
I remember this. Bear in mind that this is the same man who complained that Saban is a bully about a year ago.
Posted on 5/11/17 at 12:00 pm to CrimsonCrusade
I remember Stallings calling into Finebaum and declaring to Mal, "if he needs me, he knows my number."
Posted on 5/11/17 at 3:35 pm to stomp
quote:
I remember Stallings calling into Finebaum and declaring to Mal, "if he needs me, he knows my number."
I thought that was in the post Mike Price coaching search.
Posted on 5/11/17 at 7:01 pm to CrimsonCrusade
quote:
I thought that was in the post Mike Price coaching search.
He may have done it then too, but I specifically remember this particular call being right after the RichRod debacle.
I dont think Gene really wanted to leave Alabama in 1996...
Posted on 5/15/17 at 1:33 pm to stomp
quote:
I dont think Gene really wanted to leave Alabama in 1996...
I don't think he did either but he was probably 2-3 years away from retirement anyway. We were falling way behind UT and Florida.
The program had gotten a little stagnant and needed some new blood. However, choosing DuBose was idiotic.
I would've taken Stallings back in 2003 for a year but it all worked out in the end. Shula did his job of being a placeholder until it was time to finally go get a bigtime coach.
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